1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk device for recording on or reproducing from a disk such as CD (Compact Disk), and DVD (Digital Versatile Disk, or Digital Video Disk), and more particularly to a disk device capable of simplifying its structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 41 is an explanatory view for illustrating a conventional disk device.
As the conventional disk device, there has been a disk device in which an insertion slot and an ejection slot for the disk are provided up and down, disk transferring paths coupled to these insertion slot and ejection slot are provided up and down, respectively, and each disk transferring path has been provided with a feeding roller for feeding a disk, respectively.
In the disk device 50 shown in FIG. 41, a front panel 51A is provided with an inlet 52 and an outlet 53 for a disk, and feeding rollers 60, 61 and 58 are provided up and down so as to correspond to the inlet 52 and the outlet 53, respectively.
A first disk 56 inserted through an inlet 52 is fed to a chucking table 13 by feeding rollers 60 and 61 to be chucked, and is rotationally driven by a spindle motor 57 so that a disk driving operation such as recording or reproduction is performed. Thus, when a new second disk 54 is inserted into the inlet 52 while the first disk 56 is being driven, the driving of the first disk 56 is stopped, and the first disk 56 lowers on a lower feeding roller 58 for unloading.
The first disk 56 is carried out to the outlet 53 by the lower feeding roller 58, and the second disk 54 is fed to the chucking table 13 by the upper feeding rollers 60 and 61 to be chucked, and is rotationally driven by the spindle motor 57 so that a disk driving operation such as recording or reproduction is performed.
In a conventional disk device, however, since the feeding rollers 61 and 58 are disposed at an insertion slot 52 and an ejection slot 53 of the disk, respectively, there is a problem that the structure becomes complicated and the component count is also increased. Also, on the side of the lower ejection slot 53, it is necessary to provide a driving mechanism (not shown) for rotationally driving the feeding roller 58, and in order to avoid any interference with a driving mechanism (not shown) for the upper feeding roller 61, the driving mechanism is often disposed on the lower part side of the feeding roller 58, and as a result, the disk device may be prevented from being made thin.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a disk device having a simple structure, capable of being made thin.
As a first apparatus for solving the above-described problems, there is provided a disk device wherein an insertion/ejection slot for inserting or ejecting a disk, and two upper and lower disk transferring paths connected to the insertion/ejection slot are provided; between the upper transferring path and the lower transferring path, a transferring roller for transferring a disk is disposed in such a manner as to be rotatable in a forward or backward direction; an upper roller portion and a lower roller portion of the transferring roller are disposed so as to face the upper and lower transferring paths, respectively; in the upper roller portion and the lower roller portion, there are provided pressing members, having pressing surfaces to be arranged so as to oppose to each other; at least one of the transferring roller and the pressing member is made movable in directions to be brought into and out of contact; and the disk is caught between the pressing surface and the upper roller portion, or between the pressing surface and the lower roller portion to rotate the transferring roller in a forward or backward direction for thereby transferring the disk.
Further, as a second apparatus, there is provided a disk device constructed such that there are provided a first driving position and a second driving position whereat disks are transferred along the upper and lower transferring paths, respectively; there are provided a driving unit capable of ascending and descending in a direction orthogonal to the disk surface, and a cam member, with which the driving unit comes into engagement; and the disk is mounted for driving by causing the driving unit to ascend or descend correspondingly to the disk transferred to either of the first and second driving positions in synchronization with the movement of the cam member, wherein the pressing member is caused to engage with the cam member, and the pressing member is caused to move in synchronization with movement of the cam member to another predetermined position, whereby each of the pressing surfaces is caused to move in directions to be brought into and out of contact with the upper roller portion and the lower roller portion, respectively.
Further, as a third apparatus, there is provided a disk device constructed such that there is one above-described insertion/ejection slot, and there is provided a distributing mechanism for selectively changing over the transferring direction of the disk inserted through the insertion/ejection slot to the direction of the upper or lower transferring path, and the disk, whose direction has been changed over, is transferred along the upper or lower transferring path by a feeding force of the transferring roller.